Pretty Little Homicide
by inu-spike
Summary: NaruGaaNaru Set in present day Los Angeles. “Did you notice the concentric circles on the carpet?” “Of course.” “And the cup containing blood?” “Saw the photo.” “People who drink blood can’t have a very good diet.” WARNING: Contains disturbing imagery.
1. Give Them Blood

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the affiliated characters, nor do I make any money from this work of fiction.

Warning: This is an AU fic. Non-cannon is kind of the theme here, so please don't be offended by what you read. It will contain multiple different pairings of the Homo/Het variety. No likey? No read-y. That simple.

This story will contain graphic scenes of gore, mutilation, and other disturbing imagery. I'll keep it to the bare minimum, but don't be surprised when you come across it. You've been warned, you have.

Also, this is non-Beta'd, so please pardon any grammatical mistakes. ^^

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Give Them Blood

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_His blood was rotting. Couldn't any of them see that?! He was slowly dying; the radiation spreading through his body faster the longer he stood there . He screamed at the man in front of him, the one blocking him from his new source. He needed it! He was going to die without it. His companion sighed, then moved. 'Finally!' he cried, dropping to the floor. He growled as the body in front of him gave a spasm; red flowing out onto the white flesh of the woman before him. She was such a pretty thing. He thought she would have what he wanted. What he knew he needed. But she hadn't. _

_She hadn't had it in her tongue when he bit it off. She hadn't had it in her throat when he tore through it. It hadn't been in her heaving chest, nor in her frantically beating heart. It hadn't been there amidst her cooling intestines, and it wasn't hiding in her uterus; he made sure to thoroughly check there. She was cleaner than he was though, so he wasn't going to complain. Much._

_He growled again and his companion, sitting off to the side while he inspected the worthless corpse now slowly stiffening before his very eyes, handed him his cup. His companion looked away as he lowered the cup into her open abdominal cavity, filling it with blood; lifting it to his lips when it was full._

_Just before he took his drink, though, he lifted the cup a bit higher. A salute to the woman, whose face was frozen in terrific pain. "Cheers." He said, downing his morbid drink._

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"Naruto! Man, the Captain's been looking all over for you. He wants your ass in his office, pronto!" the message was delivered by a shaggy-haired young man, around twenty-five years old, wearing civilian clothes and a wild smirk. The man he was addressing jumped a bit at his loud tone of voice; nearly dropping the thick stack of papers he held in his hand. He looked up at the other and blew out an exasperated breath, moving one of his large tan hands to run through his messy blond locks.

Naruto Uzumaki was one of the youngest detectives in the Homicide division of the Los Angeles Police Department, and on days like this, it hardly showed. Orphaned at a young age, Naruto suffered through a corrupt child service system that bounced him from one terrible home to the next. He had gone through so many, he no longer even bothered to unpack his lone suitcase when he made it to his new home or was returned to the orphanage; knowing that it was only a matter of time before he was shipped off again. Until his adoption at age twelve by a police officer.

He looked up to the man who had saved him; loved and respected him above all others. But just as Naruto was settling down, when he was truly at the happiest time of his young life, tragedy struck the fifteen year old. His beloved guardian, a sure saint by the name of Iruka Umino, was murdered in cold blood by some punks who wanted to make a name for themselves and thought they had nothing to lose. Naruto had watched in righteous fury and horror as the suspects for the crime were let go, plea bargains guaranteeing them a slap on the wrist for information on other, "more important" as Naruto had been told by the non-sympathetic DA, criminals.

Naruto was sent back into the system; back into the hell from which Iruka had saved him. But this time, Naruto had a plan. He would become an officer and work his way up the latter until he made it to Police Commissioner. Once there, he would ensure that justice be brought to all and no criminal would escape the punishment they deserved.

With that goal firmly placed in his mind, Naruto pushed himself to graduate at the top of his high school class; earning him a small scholarship, which he used to pay his way through community college. After obtaining his Associates degree with honors in Administration of Justice, he enrolled in the LAPD's academy. Still striving to be the best, he received the honor of graduated at the top of his class once again.

He was assigned as a patrol officer, driving the beat with a senior officer by the name of Kakashi Hatake. He was a tall man, reaching just over six foot three when he bothered to stand up straight, with odd silver hair that refused to be tamed. The man was lazy, obsessed with porn, and would never let Naruto drive. But he had a strong sense of right and wrong and taught Naruto more in his two years with the man than he had ever learned from his books. He reminded Naruto greatly of Iruka and the blond greatly appreciated all of the lessons he had bashed into his skull during their time together.

Through the department he was able to earn his Bachelor's degree in Criminology. With the new degree in hand, and the two years of experience on the beat in the streets of lower Los Angeles, Naruto transferred over as a detective in the homicide unit; the very unit that had let the murderers of his father go.

Looking wearily at his long-time friend and sometimes partner, Naruto took in the others features. Kiba Inuzuka stood at a tall six foot two, a scant inch taller than Naruto's own six foot one (something he often held over his friend… literally at times). He had a solid frame, covered in deeply tanned skin and topped with shaggy auburn hair.

Kiba was one of the youngest detectives in the Gangs unit, something that the wild man used to his advantage. Having grown up in a broken home, (his father killed when he was young and his mother having to do all but whore herself to make ends meat for Kiba and his older sister) Kiba knew exactly what it was like to have nothing and want everything.

When he was twelve, he had joined the local street gang; hoping to get some extra cash for his home, to give his mother a little bit more help. His initiation had been brutal, three cracked ribs and a broken nose, but he was accepted. Up until the point where he had to prove his worth.

A series of petty thefts landed Kiba in Juvenile Hall and his ability to go home to his mother. He was released into the custody of Child Services, where he spent the next two year of his life in an orphanage.

It was there that he and Naruto met. Kiba, then sixteen, and Naruto, just returned to the system because of his father's murder, were roommates for all of three days; enough time for Kiba to break Naruto's arm and for Naruto to smash Kiba's jaw.

They were then roommates at County; spending everyday stuck in the same room for nearly four months. It was this time spent together that truly bonded the boys; to the point that they stayed together, all the way up until their graduation from community college.

While Naruto immediately went into the LAPD, Kiba had his trepidation. It was the LAPD that had busted hi in the first place, taken him away from his mother. But the LAPD and the system had also saved him; several of the boys that had joined the gang at the same time he had… were dead. Kiba went back to his old neighborhood as an adult and found nothing but ruin.

The house in which he had called home was gone; replaced by a decrepit building, covered in graffiti, with bullet hole ridden walls and busted windows. Kiba had been disgusted. Truly sickened by the sight.

He had gone to the end of the block, picked up a pay phone, and called an all too familiar number. Through sheer will and determination, Kiba qualified for the academy and joined the same unit as Naruto. He toiled day and night to make up for any work he missed and excelled at everything the Sergeants threw at him.

After graduation, Kiba's background information found its way onto the desk of the Chief of Police. The man had read over the file and scheduled a meeting with one of his newest officers. More nervous than he could ever remember being (even more so than when he had had to tell his mother that he was arrested and sentenced to do time), Kiba stood at attention in front of the Chief's desk.

The older man laughed at the young man's nervousness and formality, asking him to sit and relax. The Chief told Kiba why he was there and, for once, Kiba was kind of glad he had been such a wild child.

Within Kiba was an insider's knowledge on just how the inner city gangs worked. A knowledge that the department used to its advantage in terms of getting officers in undercover and taking the gangs down from the inside. Kiba was proud of the work he and his team did; glad to be of use getting murderers and thieves off the streets.

Naruto blinked a bit as Kiba snapped his fingers in front of his face. "Having some trouble there, bro?" the animalistic man smirked at the blonde's inattentiveness. "Fuck, Kiba. Did he say what he wanted?" Brown-brows drew down at the exhaustion coming from Naruto's slumped form.

"No, didn't say what it was about, just that he needed you asap and he couldn't reach you on your cell. But I heard tale that there's a fed in the building." "Shit." Naruto cursed, pulling his phone from its place on his belt. "No fucking bars. No wonder."

Kiba's face showed concern at the other's tone. "You okay, man? You seem off." Naruto sighed again and let his head bang down on his desk, in a completely undignified way. Once. Twice. Then just let it rest there as he answered. "I just lost my main lead in this case I'm working on, and all my other leads have been turning up really shitty. I'm worried we're gonna lose the trail."

Kiba grunted, whether in dismissal or agreement, it was difficult to tell. "Dude, don't worry about it. You're Naruto Uzumaki! Top of his class in the academy and top of his class at UCSD! If anyone can o this, you can." The blond head lifted and Naruto grinned at the other man's enthusiasm. "Thanks, bro, I needed the pick-me-up."

Naruto stood from his chair and picked up the files that had been strewn across his desk. He didn't bother to put his blazer on as he and Kiba made their way down the busy corridor. They chatted amiably on the way to the elevator and continued to do so until they made it to Kiba's stop.

"I'll see you later, right?" Naruto asked, getting a reassuring punch on the shoulder from the departing Inuzuka. "Yeah man, I'll see ya. And don't worry about that case, you'll catch your guy; you always do." Naruto grinned again at his waving friend before the doors shut; his smile shutting with them. _'I had better'_ he thought, _'The morgue doesn't have enough room for me not to.'_

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TBC

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Author's Note At The Bottom!!

Well hi and howdy everyone. ^^ Sooo, I know that I'm supposed to be working on quite a few other projects and updated some of my currently running fics… Sorry. ^^; But this idea was literally eating away at my soul! I had to get it out.

The chapters are probably going to run a bit short, if only because I don't want to put too much into any _one_ chapter. I want to spread stuff out a little bit in this one. Don't worry, chapter two is actually written… I just need to sit down and type it. Heehee

As always, please review. I love feedback!!


	2. You've Got A Pretty Mouth

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the affiliated characters, nor do I make any money from this work of fiction.

Warning: This is an AU fic. Non-cannon is kind of the theme here, so please don't be offended by what you read. It will contain multiple different pairings of the Homo/Het variety. No likey? No read-y. That simple.

This story will contain graphic scenes of gore, mutilation, and other disturbing imagery. I'll keep it to the bare minimum, but don't be surprised when you come across it. You've been warned, you have.

**Warning!!: **Again, there is some graphic imagery in this chapter. If you don't want to read it, just skip until after the italics. ^^

Also, this is non-Beta'd, so please pardon any grammatical mistakes. ^^

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You've Got A Pretty Mouth

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_He was running; running as fast as he could. He took a blind left, then another. He ran until his lungs were ready to collapse, until his legs burned as if they were on fire. But he couldn't stop. No, _they_ would get him. He couldn't let that happen!_

_So preoccupied with his thoughts he didn't notice until it was too late. He had taken one unknown corner too many and now stood facing a dead end. 'NO!' he screamed, scrambling to try and pull himself over the barb wired fence. _

_A large hand grabbed his coat before he could even make it halfway up and pulled him roughly to the ground. He groaned as his back met the wet pavement, the pain disorienting him momentarily. His mind cleared immediately when he heard the sound of his hunter's laughter._

'_So,' a raspy voice began, 'You thought we'd just let you get away with telling the cops our little secret. Man, aren't you a dumbass.' The hunter laughed again as his prey whimpered. _

'_Please,' the man on the ground begged, going so far as to grovel at the standing man's feet, 'I swear I didn't tell him anything good.' A hand rested on his head, patting him, and for a brief moment, he felt as though he might live through this meeting._

_He screamed silently—his face twisted into horrific pain— as his left arm was broken by the behemoth before him. His scream tried harder to escape him when a jagged, serrated sword was drawn and the limb taken off with slow, sawing motions. _

_His still attached hand came up to clutch at the bleeding stump, bile rising into his throat as he felt the jagged edges of flesh, muscle and bone. The bile never quite made it as his stomach was pierced and his abdomen sliced open; his intestines fell with a sickening 'plop' to the damp alleyway floor._

_He scrambled to collect the entrails, right arm shaking from the effort and pain. A steel-toed boot came down hard, smashing what could have been his spleen; he didn't know, it was becoming so _hard_ to breathe._

'_Now, now,' the monster said as he reached down, in to his coat pocket retrieving a handkerchief.' Don't want to disappoint the cops when they find you. Gotta make you look pretty.'_

_He looked up at his assailant with tears in his eyes. 'P-please' he begged softly. He didn't want to die. Not like this. The other man smiled and cupped his jaw, using the small square of white cloth to clean the blood from the corners of his lips; renewing his hope and sparking a brief light into his eyes. He struggled briefly as the grip on his jaw tightened and he was lifted from the ground._

_The feel of the sword slicing across his throat, in an agonizingly slow motion, destroyed any hope for survival. He was dropped to the ground, grasping the wound; trying to stop the bleeding, but he was already fading out. His hunter crouched down to look him in the eye; his razor sharp teeth glinting in the lights of the street just on the other side of the fence._

'_Sorry, but we don't leave loose ends. Too bad though, you would've made a decent offering to that maniac.' His murderer cackled loudly as he stood up and walked away, leaving the still convulsing body of his prey behind. Glossy eyes watched as the beast of a man moved further down the alleyway—rapidly cooling blood following the same path._

_-_

~*~*~*~*~*

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Naruto swallowed nervously as he stared, nearly transfixed, at the golden lettering on the door before him. 'Ibiki Morino, Captain, Homicide Division', the door announced the name and title of its occupant for all. He knocked firmly on the wooden barrier; waiting a little more than a second to hear a gruff voice call out "Come in". Taking a deep breath to settle his nerves, Naruto plastered a grin on his tired face and walked into the room.

The sight that greeted him was both new and familiar. Captain Morino's office was a small thing, just a bit larger than the cubicles normally seen in business buildings. The walls were lined with newspaper articles—some framed, most not—all showcasing either Morino's exploits or depicting stories of the courageous exploits of his unit.

The large mahogany desk that took up the majority of the room was an ever present disaster; papers strewn this way and that, with large case folders teetering close to the edge—there was a department betting pool dedicated to the amount of times the stacks would actually fall over. How would they know when it happened? Ibiki was a large man, with a loud voice. So far, Naruto was winning.

Naruto maneuvered his way passed the over-filled filing cabinets and took a seat at one of the folding chairs, facing his boss. Ibiki Morino was an incredibly intimidating man. At just over forty years, Ibiki had been selected to take over the position as Chief of Homicide when his predecessor had fallen ill and taken a turn for the worst.

As an officer, Ibiki was a name both respected and feared amongst the men and women in blue; downright terror inducing among criminals. Unfortunately, a tragic accident one night nearly took Ibiki's life and the damage he received cost him his livelihood. He was assigned to a desk job, with no possible hope of ever returning to the streets.

But Morino did not despair. Instead, he devoted his life to his paperwork; making sure that every 't' was crossed and every 'i' was dotted in all of the homicide reports that crossed his desk. He made sure that every procedure was followed and that every regulation was met; ensuring that no one who worked with or for him could ever have their cases thrown out in a court. It was his near obsession with perfection that led him to the position that he was in today.

Naruto respected him for that and followed his orders with only minor complaint. Well, that, and Ibiki was still one of the most effective interrogators in the entire department. The blond waited while the Captain continued to read a document in his hand and turned his focus to the other man in the room.

The man was silent. Hell Naruto could barely hear him breathing, and he was less than two feet from him. He had bright red, shaggy hair that fell a bit into his eyes. Eyes, Naruto observed, that were surrounded by a thick ring of black. _'Either he doesn't sleep much, or he has a real problem with putting his make-up on in the morning.'_

Naruto was stopped from further observation when Ibiki cleared his throat and set down the paper he had been looking at. "You wanted to see me, boss?" The blond questioned.

Ibiki ran his eyes over the officer, taking in the slight slouch and the dimmed blue eyes; something had gone wrong in his investigation. He leveled the younger man with a serious stare.

"How's your case coming along, Uzumaki?" The question was asked in the man's normal gruff tone but Naruto could hear the assessing qualities behind it. Naruto's twitch gave him away faster than if he had stood on the cluttered desk, shouting his woes to the world.

The young detective ran a hand through his hair, stopping at the base of his neck to grip the tense muscle there. "Not all that great right now. The last of my leads just dried up and I'm having a hell of a time trying to get some more. Some that won't turn up dead as soon as I make contact with them."

He winced guiltily as he thought of his last informant, or at least, what was left of him. He had been to the crime scene just that morning, watching as the city coroner packed the mutilated corpse into a body bag; tossing in the severed arm almost as an afterthought.

"I think we're looking at a much larger picture than we originally assessed." Ibiki crossed his work calloused hands in front of his lips, a deep frown pulling at the scars deeply grooved into his face. Naruto nodded somewhat sedately; that was the conclusion he had reached the night previous, while working late in his apartment.

"That's what I figured," he said, elbows resting on his knees as he hunched over. Ibiki made a 'hurrumph' like sound, shuffled a few loose papers, then gestured to the room's other, silent, occupant. "I'm sure there are already rumors flying around this shithole about this guy," he said with a disgruntled smirk; not quite disgusted with the station's rumor mill, but not very happy with it. "This is Agent Gaara Sabaku, FBI. They've been following our case and have come up with a similar conclusion."

Naruto bristled at hearing _his_ case was under the FBI's scrutiny—nothing good ever happened when the feds were breathing down their necks. He turned in his chair, ready to tell the other man off, but choked on his words when he finally took in the details of the agent.

He was smartly dressed in a crisp black suit, a white button down dress shirt, and pressed red tie. His black shoes shone immaculately, putting Naruto's scuffed brown ones to shame. He didn't even blink while Naruto was sizing him up and down, letting his sharp teal eyes bore into the wall behind the captain's desk. His skin was lily white, a shade that Naruto usually associated with the recently deceased, or soon to be.

A gleaming, golden badge was flipped out for Naruto to see; Gaara not even having to look away from his staring match with the wall to ensure that Naruto could clearing see the embossed "FBI" on the metal. The blond shut his mouth with a huff and turned back to Ibiki just in time to see the captain wall off an amused expression.

"Agent Sabaku has been the lead investigator on this case for their side and it's been decided that you two will work together to catch whoever's been committing these… abominations." It wasn't often that a case showed a personal effect on the hardened man; but the conditions in which some of the corpses had been found was deplorable. They needed to get this done. Now.

Tan hands slammed down on the desk, causing a few of the afore mentioned precarious stacks of papers to flutter to the floor. "There's no way I'm gonna work with this guy! I don't need any fucking help with this case, I've got it covered!" "Then you can hand me your gun and badge right now."

Naruto stepped back and gaped at his boss. "W-what?" He stuttered, the first time he had ever in front of the interrogation expert. "You heard me, Uzumaki," the larger man practically growled, showing his displeasure at the situation. "It's either him or you're off the case completely. These orders came down from the Chief and FBI's director. Your move, kid. Choose wisely.*"

Both officers stared at one another, each daring the other to back down. Blues eyes flicked to the left and Ibiki knew he had won. It was a sour victory, however; he hated when he had to make his men submit to something even he did not want to go along with.

"Agent Sabaku," the gruff voice addressed the silent red-head, "Please go with Detective Uzumaki. Hopefully, having more man power on this case will get it solved sooner, rather than later." Naruto took that as his dismissal and struck a strict salute at his captain. "Sir," he growled, then slammed the office door open; startling a poor officer carrying a stack of files that clattered to the floor.

Ibiki heaved a great sigh as the door closed softly behind Sabaku. "I'm getting too old for this shit." He lamented before getting up to right the papers Naruto had knocked over. His roar of outrage caused a collective groan to go up among the men and women within earshot; looked like Naruto won the betting pool again.

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TBC

* –So this was completely random and I had no actual intention of throwing it in there. If you can figure out where this came from, I'll make a special mention of you in the next chapter. ^^

Author's Note At The Bottom!!

Hello everyone! Welcome to chapter two of my "Pretty Little Homicide". I'm currently hard at work with chapter three; it's written, I just need to type it out. ^^; Sorry.

As always, please review. I love to hear from the readers. Tell me what you liked, what you disliked; I'm all ears! Urm, well, technically eyes, but you understand.


	3. I'm Your Boogeyman

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the affiliated characters, nor do I make any money from this work of fiction.

Warning: This is an AU fic. Non-cannon is kind of the theme here, so please don't be offended by what you read. It will contain multiple different pairings of the Homo/Het variety. No likey? No read-y. That simple.

This story will contain graphic scenes of gore, mutilation, and other disturbing imagery. I'll keep it to the bare minimum, but don't be surprised when you come across it. You've been warned, you have.

**Extra Warning!!:** There's a bit more gore than usually in this chapter. It's kind of intermingled with the none-gore text, so I'm not sure what you're gonna do about that. Sorry?

Also, this is non-Beta'd, so please pardon any grammatical mistakes. ^^

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I'm Your Boogeyman

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_There was a bright light trained on her when she came around to consciousness. _

_Dried blood was matted into her formally styled, bottle brunet hair—a result of the wound received from the truncheon that was used to knock her out. Her makeup—painstakingly applied before she left for the club that evening—was smeared across her face._

_Her breath heaved in and out of her scantily clad chest; her brand new silk blouse lay in ruins around her feet. The skirt she had picked out for the evening sat in tatters a short way away and her overturned purse was not far from it—the light from her cell-phone letting her know that her friends were looking for her. _

"_P-Please, don't hurt me. I'm sorry, just, please, please, let me go!" she cried, tugging weakly at the leather cuffs secured around her wrist; keeping her arms taunt and he back firmly pressed to the cold concrete wall behind her. Mascara ran down her soft olive toned cheeks from her weeping green eyes. _

_She watched as her captor shifted his weight from one foot to the other, deceptively delicate looking hands buried into his long dirty hair. "P-please…" she called again, flinching when the man snarled at her._

"_Keep quiet! I can't hear with you making such a racket!" She whimpered as he clutched at his head again, covering his ears to hear better. _'There's no one else here!'_ she wanted to scream, but her left foot sitting at a wrong angel—the ankle swollen and bone pressing against the skin to make a white spot in a sea of sickening purple—reminded her of the last time she spoke out boldly. _

_Her red lips trembled as the man jerked away from the wall she was attached; moving towards a workbench located along the wall adjacent to her in the garage-like room. The waterlogged green eyes widened in horror as a jittery pale hand reached for and picked up a small hack-saw._

"_Please! Oh God! Please, let me go! I promise not to tell anyone! Please, please, please, let me go!!" her chest heaved with her sobs. The back of her skull made a disturbingly loud 'thunk' as it connected with the wall behind her, stars coming to her eyes from the sensation of a fist to her cheek and cement to her cranium._

"_Shut up!" he hissed, gripping her chin tightly in his unoccupied hand; unintentionally splitting her lip on her own teeth from the force of his fingers. He tossed her head to the side, smacking her once more for good measure, before going back to the workbench covered in various tool._

_She couldn't see what he was doing now, but she watched as her cell phone's scream lit up again. _'Please, God, please' _she pleaded to herself, hoping against all that some divine presence would take mercy on her and send some sort of rescue. _

_Her captive turned toward her, maniacal gleam in his eyes and an overly wide grin stretching his mouth obscenely. "Be a dear," he spoke in a devilishly smooth tone, the same tone he had used to coerce her from the safety of her friends and the club. "Bleed for me."_

_Her screams echoed through the room long after her lungs froze and her heart stopped beating._

~*~*~*~*~*

Naruto spared the third person he mowed down with an apologetic look but continued on to his desk, hyperaware of the federal agent hot on his trail. A few more slammed doors—and a snarled apology at a person hit by one of said doors—later, Naruto and Gaara reached the detective's file strewn desk.

Plopping himself into his uncomfortable wooden chair, Naruto jerkily gesture to the plain, paint chipped folding chair situated at the end of the desk—something he usually reserved for holding files, he had cleared it just that morning for a quick talk with one of his fellow detectives.

A moment passed between with silence between the men before Gaara spoke. "Tell me what you know."

Naruto snapped the pencil that he had picked up when he sat down, the teeth marks littering the topmost part of the utensil let Gaara know that Naruto seemed to have a bit of an oral fixation. _'A passed habit perhaps. Smoking? He doesn't seem the type. Hmm'_ he thought as he smirked at the small detail, but wiped his face clear when his new 'partner' decided to enlighten him with just what he 'knew'.

"Oh, what I know? Well, the sky is blue, the chemical compound found in oxygen is O2, most flight enabled foul fly south for the winter, and you're a fucking douche. That sound good to you?!" Naruto sneered at the blank face and cold jade eyes.

He slumped back in his chair as if all the fight has just left him, then rubbed a hand through his hair and down his face. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm sure it wasn't your idea to get stuck on an LAPD case and I shouldn't be getting' mad at you because of it. Listen, want to start over?" He gripped the back of his head as he looked through his bangs at the other.

Taking the slight upward twitch in the corner of Gaara's lips as an affirmative, Naruto stuck out the hand not rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Hi, I'm Detective Naruto Uzumaki, LAPD Homicide." The twitch steadied out into a smirk as Gaara took the larger tan hand into his smaller pale one. "Special Agent Gaara Sabaku, Criminal Profiler."

~*~*~*~*~*

"What do you know about the case so far, Sabaku?" Two steaming cups of coffee were left lost and forgotten amidst the teetering stacks of files on Naruto's desk. After re-introductions both men had decided to grab a cup of the brown liquid gold before getting down to business.

They had made it to the break room one floor down and back without much incident; excluding all the strange looks that Gaara was receiving from the other officers they encountered along the way.

Gaara sat stiffly in the metal folding chair beside Naruto's desk; the floor's designated 'disaster zone'. Most of the desks and offices in the station were over filled with files and paperwork. But, unlike most desks and offices, the homicide division looked like it was under the constant attack of former trees.

Naruto's desk seemed to be the epicenter of the attack; case files and loose sheets of paper spread over the entire surface of the department issued furniture. It was vaguely reminiscent of Captain Morino's ridiculously over- crowded office, only without the walls to hold everything in.

However, also unlike the other desks around it, there was a meticulous order to all of the chaos. The Uzumaki knew where every piece of information was located at all times and was known to rampage up and down the halls if anyone _dared_ to try organizing it.

Gaara stared in subdued amazement as Naruto—without waiting for an answer—started sifted through the work and compiled another, smaller, side stack. Presumably, these were notes on any relevant information. Jade eyes blinked slowly and he cleared his throat after a moment of awkward silence, efficiently stilling the twitching blonde's hands.

"As I've yet to be to any of the actual crime scenes, I'm afraid the only information I have is what your captain has forwarded to my director." Gaara reached over for his cup and took a sip of the now cooled brew, watching as Naruto mulled over his statement.

Naruto's brows furrowed and he grumbled a few choice words before shuffling through a different part of his desk. Gaara blinked again as several folders were dropped onto his lap. He returned his cup to the desk in order to open the top most folder.

Inside, he found an assortment of photographs; ranging from close-ups on blood splatters on some sort of patterned cloth to a wide-shot of an unpaved parking lot. "These were all taken at the last three crime scenes." The agent arched an invisible brow at that.

"Only three? I was under the impression that there had been more murders than that." Naruto winced and averted his eyes, busying himself by sweeping the remains of his favorite pencil into the waste basket beside his right leg.

"There have been six murders in total, as far as we know anyway. The first three haven't been included into this case because of a lack of evidence. There's no way to tie them together with the later victims other than their proximity with the later crime scenes."

The blond opened his top-right side drawer and pulled out three thin manila folders. "We were never able to recover enough of the first victims to connect them to the same case, so they are all being treated as separate homicides. I've kept the files with me, but there's nothing to go off of from them."

Naruto winced again as he remembered the rotting foot that was the first victim, which had shown up in the local dump when two patrol units were searching for a completely unrelated robbery suspect. His mind then flashed to the arm and entrails that had been reported to a passing motorcycle patrol officer by a homeless man who had 'heard a lot of fucking noise'; victim two.

There had been a little more of victim three to work with, though not by much. A decomposing head had been called in by a frantic mother who had caught her children poking at it with sticks. With a head they had at least been able to identify the victim, a young man by the name of Inari Nami* who had been reported missing by his mother six months previous.

Naruto still remembered having to tell the sweet woman that all they had was his head for her to bury. Her heart wrenching cries still woke him up at night when he was overly stressed over a case that involved victims in their teens.

"Alright then, we'll start with the fourth victim then," Gaara surmised, lifting the photos from the first file in his lap up so he could get a better look. Naruto's eyes dilated a bit as he was rushed back to the day when the case was officially thrown open.

With victim four came an actual crime scene, something the usually exuberant detective would see in his nightmares for the rest of his life. The motel management had called in a panic, claiming satanic rituals had been involved. What Naruto had seen was not part of any ritual he had ever heard of, but something so much worse.

A young man had been bound to the king sized bed by his wrists and ankles; with—what lab tests later revealed—treated calf's skin fashioned into long, thin strips. The victim couldn't have been more than seventeen—four years older than Inari had been—but the way his face was twisted into frozen agony made him look twice as old.

He had been sliced open from his throat to just above where his genitals should have been. His abdominal organs were missing, his lungs had both been shredded, and his hearts had been punctured repeatedly.

Naruto had had to fight back bile when he saw that the young man's penis and testicles had been removed only to be shoved viciously into his unprepared anus, if the pool of dried blood directly beneath was any indication. It was the only place in the entire room stained with the burnt-red colored essence.

It was as if the murderer or murderers had kept the boy—_he was just a kid_, Naruto fought against the bile harder—on some sort of tarp then violated him as an afterthought before leaving. Naruto had stayed the entire time the room was wiped and dusted, the pictures were taken, and the coroner had come to remove the body.

He had gone with the crime scene investigator in charge of the scene himself to drop off the various DNA samples at the lab and had personally called the family of the boy when the results came in. Konohamaru Sarutobi's grandfather and uncle were both brought to tears at the sight of the boy on the morgue's viewing slab. But, at least they had a body to grieve over.

Naruto was brought back to attention when Gaara snapped pale fingers in front of his face. "Er, sorry. Anyway, the fourth victim was when the investigation was officially opened. There have been two more victims since then that have had similar crime scenes; completely mutilated, but no blood what so ever found in or around the victim."

The Sabaku "hmm-ed" lowly to himself as he shuffled through the pictures of the Sarutobi murder in his hands. He put them back in their folder then reached over to take another sip from his coffee, idly noticing that Naruto had yet to drink from his own. _'Perhaps I should have thought twice before drinking this if he isn't.'_ he thought inwardly, but expressed none of his concerned.

"I see. Well, then, no wonder they want to bring in more man power. Has this murderer been given a name yet?" Naruto fought the urge to bristle at the unintentional barb towards his competence, reaching out to grab a different file hidden underneath his one and only knick-knack on his desk; a solid, white stone frog, a gift from Kiba when he had been promoted from officer to detective.

"Yeah, they're calling 'em the 'Boogeyman'. Not very creative, but it's scaring the shit out of the bangers around where the murders are taking place. Even the gangs unit here has brought it up a few times." Naruto held up a photo he had taken from the file. It was of a large brick wall, most likely the side of a building, perhaps a residential one. Across the bricks was a message scrawled in vibrant red spray paint:

**Lock yo doors and close them windows. The Boogeyman's comin' to getcha!**

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TBC

*—Okay, so Inari and his family actually had no last name (that I can find at any rate). So, I've improvised. _Nami_ stands for Wave, i.e. I made his last name the same as the village from which he hails. Make sense?

Author's Note At The Bottom!!

I'm so sorry for how long this took! T^T Honestly, it was all written out and ready to go, I just could never work up the will to sit down and type it. Well, I finally forced myself to do it! Yay for me. I hope everyone liked this chapter! Please feel free to let me know what you thought of it. ^^


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